Fallen Leaves: Last Words on Life, Love, War, and God
Author(s): Will Durant
From 1968 to 1978, Will Durant made four public allusions to the existence of Fallen Leaves. One, in 1975, hinted at its contents: "a not very serious book that answers the questions of what I think about government, life, death, and God." And in 1975: "I propose...to answer all the important questions, simply, fairly, and imperfectly." Even into his nineties, he worked on the book daily, writing it out on legal notepads. On his death in 1981, no one, not even the Durant heirs, knew if he had completed it, or even if it still existed. Thirty-two years later, in a granddaughter's attic trunk, the manuscript was discovered. Fallen Leaves is Will Durant's most personal book. It is precisely as he described: twenty-two short chapters on everything from youth and old age, religion and morals, to sex, war, politics, and art. The culmination of Will Durant's sixty-plus years spent researching the philosophies, religions, arts, sciences, and civilizations from across the world, Fallen Leavesis the distilled wisdom of a gifted scholar with a renowned talent for rendering the insights of the past accessible.
In its preface Durant mentions that over the course of his career he received letters from "curious readers who have challenged me to speak my mindon the timeless questions of human life and fate." With Fallen Leaves he accepted their challenge. It contains strong opinions, elegant prose, and deep insights into the human condition as only Will Durant could provide, as well as his revealing conclusions about the perennial problems and greatest joys we face as a species.
Product Information
"Fallen Leaves is in some ways a slight book. But it is also a revelatory one. Most of Durant's work is about the thoughts and actions of others. Fallen Leaves is very much about the thoughts of Will durant concerning-well, almost everything. You'll find short essays on childhood, old age, death, war, politics, capitalisn, art, sex, God and morality. ... Above all, Fallen Leaves is a portrait of a sensibility. ... Durant was a remarkable specimen of that nearly extinct species, a civilized liberal of wide learning and even wider sympathy for the fundamentals of human aspiration." The Wall Street Journal "Short but persuasive commentaries on a diversity of topics from a respected scholar of humanity." Kirkus Reviews "Some passages, such as his observations on youth and middle age, are personal and specific, while others, such as his ruminations on the existence of God, border on philosophy... [And others] still carry a beneficial sting, such as his thoughts on war and nationalism and his plea for racial harmony (Durant's civil rights advocacy dated back to 1914)... a thought-provoking array of opinions." Publishers Weekly "Some of his musings are provocative, even outrageous...this is a work that demands we think, and it is a worthy conclusion to a long and distinguished career." Booklist "The book serves as a distillation of wisdom from a distinguished scholar, rendered in elegant prose." The New Criterion
Will Durant (1885-1981) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize (1968) and the Medal of Freedom (1977). He spent more than fifty years writing his critically acclaimed THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION (the later volumes written in conjunction with his wife, Ariel). His book THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY is credited with introducing more people to the subject of philosophy than any other work.
General Fields
- :
- : Simon & Schuster
- : Simon & Schuster
- : 0.28
- : 01 December 2014
- : United States
- : books
Special Fields
- : Will Durant
- : Hardback
- : 818.5208
- : 208
- : rough front;